LUCY BURDETTE: Do we like anything better than a Red book launch? No we do not! And today it's our own dear Rhys with her new historical standalone!
RHYS BOWEN: Today I am celebrating the release of ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS, my new stand-alone novel. Actually I have to confess that I cheated a little. I have already had a launch party at the Poisoned Pen bookstore, but this is the official pub day.
The launch
party was wonderful. So many people came from distant places…
We served champagne and appropriate goodies: macarons
because it takes place in France and Queen Victoria’s favorite cookies, the
recipe taken from her chef’s cook book, because the book is about Queen
Victoria. Actually it’s about a young woman of good family who has fallen upon
hard times and has to work as a servant. A miraculous chance means she is hired
to work in Queen Victoria’s kitchen and then to accompany the queen to the
South of France, where she spent every winter in her final years. Of course
there is scandal, intrigue and even a murder.
For the launch party I wanted an authentic dish from her
chef’s cook book (which you can access online!)
It was a challenge to find a recipe that I could actually
make and serve to people. Most of the 1400 recipes were so complicated, or so disgusting that it
was hard to find something I could tackle.
How about Haunch and Neck of Red Deer at la Marie Stuart,
Or A la Glengarry
But the best one is a la St. Andrew.
You poach the necks then surround with a fine financiere
sauce, surround with quenelles of grouse and at each end place a croustalle of
bread baked in the shape of a vase filled with truffles and on each flank of
the dish a large crayfish.
Here are some other delicious recipes. Do you fancy Giblet pie?
And how do you serve partridges at home? Not like this?
How about blackbird pie? Lark pie?
And after this, a dessert... I'll just whip one up for you!
Finally I settled upon ginger biscuits that were among her
favorites (and simple to bake for someone like me who is NOT a baker)
And finally take a look at a menu. No wonder Queen Victoria became so fat!
So there is a lot of food in the book, especially when our heroine learns of the delights of French cuisine:
We have:
A young woman struggling against all odds to survive
Queen Victoria
The French riviera and French cuisine
A touch of danger and intrigue
A hint of romance
What better recipe for a book!
Happy Book Birthday, Rhys!
ReplyDeleteThose recipes make me laugh . . . they do seem quite complicated. It’s a good thing we don’t eat like that today!
But your book recipe sounds perfect, and I am looking forward to reading “Above the Bay of Angels” . . . .
Despite my last name, I'm really not a baker. Or a cook. So all of that is well beyond me. Glad you found a recipe. And congrats on the new book launch!
ReplyDeleteThat's funny, Mark!
DeleteOur last name, Maslowski, means "butter maker". I can assure you, no one in my husband's family has ever made butter!
A Happy Book Birthday to you, Rhys! I'll be looking for Above the Bay of Angels in my mailbox today. I think you chose wisely with the ginger biscuits.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your official book birthday! Those recipes are absolutely over the top. I’m leaning toward a modern interpretation, maybe Easter Peeps sitting in a pie shell.
ReplyDeleteHappy book birthday, Rhys. Wow, glad I wasn't a Victorian cook. Haunch of red deer! Was there a recipe for peacock as well? I will have to look. I understand they are quite tasty. You definitely made the right choice with the ginger biscuits.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading Above the Bay of Angels. It will be an education. I never knew Queen Victoria regularly traveled outside of the British Isles. When I think of her travels, it's to Scotland. Did Mr. Brown go with her?
Kait, I think Mr. Brown went, but he mostly stayed in Scotland. I know when she went to France she took an Indian manservant (she was quite proud of her title "Empress of India"), which was nearly as scandalous to some.
DeleteAnd swan! Only the Queen is allowed to eat swan
DeleteThose recipes are over the top, wow, but ginger biscuits are always perfect. Happy book birthday, Rhys!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read this. Agree about 19th century recipes. The few times I tried make something from a cookbook from my fictional midwife's era, the results were awful. The quantities are either enormous or the flavorings insipid. I stuck with sugar cookies for a launch party, too!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new book!
ReplyDeleteI remember reading in her biography that Queen Victoria loved to eat. Looking at the recipes above, I can believe it!
Congratulations Rhys! I loved the new book and I know our red readers will too!
ReplyDeleteHappy book birthday Rhys ! Downloading it now.
ReplyDeleteSo excited for you, Rhys! And of course excited for us the readers who have been eagerly anticipating.
ReplyDeleteThose recipes are hilarious. I thought my mother's and my grandmother's recipes were ridiculous when they say "bake until done" plus give no settings for the oven temperature.
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DeleteCongratulations on your new release! Contemplating a new Great British Baking Show using 19th c. recipes? I remember finding an old copy of Mrs. Beeton's Cookbook to use for a school project. We "tweaked" Mrs. B's recipe for Hot Cross Buns with modern dry yeast.
ReplyDeleteRemember the original Mrs Beeton’s oxtail soup? “ first slaughter your ox “?
DeleteHappy book launch! The recipes sound so over-the-top--hard to comprehend sitting down to meals like that! I do simple--never complicated!
ReplyDeleteHappy Book Birthday! Those recipes would probably help me lose weight, not gain.
ReplyDeleteCalling in from vacation! Yaaaaaay Rhys!! Xxxxxxx
ReplyDeleteDon’t read your email! Relax. Enjoy
DeleteCongratulations, Rhys! After looking at these recipes I am now wondering what sort of food is prepared for Queen Elizabeth. For instance what might she eat for Sunday supper? Or breakfast?
ReplyDeleteShe likes very simple food and has always struggled with her weight. So boiled egg for breakfast. She has had to eat so many meals at functions
DeleteNo onions or garlic, I believe.
DeleteCongratulations, Rhys! The book is fascinating with its unique setting "behind the scenes" at the palace, and Isabella is a charming heroine.
ReplyDeleteHappy Book Release Day, Rhys! Mine arrived on my Kindle this morning. It feels like Christmas! It's next on my to-be-read list. :)
ReplyDeleteRegarding that menu. I think that even if I ate only one bite of each course, I would be fat. Ug.
Congrats, Rhys! What fun to browse old cookbooks for fun (and strange) recipes! I love doing that too.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on yet another book birthday, Rhys. Julie is ecstatic! I had the date wrong, thought it was yesterday, and she may not forgive me for getting the date wrong. She had arranged her reading to be ready for ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS the moment it appeared on her Kindle! But today she will be delighted.
ReplyDeleteI hope you read it after Julie
DeleteOh I will. We can read books at the same time but prefer not to. It can get messed up when reading on our Kindles.
DeleteJulie has been deep in the book all day and reports that it is very good. It inspired her to do a mise en place before I cook dinner tonight.
DeleteHappy book birthday, Rhys, and (selfishly) wishing you many, many more!
ReplyDeleteOur ancestors certainly ate differently from us. I doubt that today's royals use the recipes from their great grandmother's chef.
Can't WAIT to read this!! As a major league foodie, fan of British monarchy stories, and Rhys Bowen groupie, I"M IN!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! I love reading old cookbooks, and the recipes you shared boggle the mind! I look forward to reading Above the Bay of Angels ~
ReplyDeleteWhat a gastronomically enlightening post! Absolutely fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing. I’m quite thrilled to just be making lasagna tonight! Congratulations on the release of ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS! I read an ARC and loved it!
ReplyDeleteI found my book in my Kindle this morning and I'm ready to go. Reading these recipes and thinking about all those proteins in one dish. Truly amazing. A meal must have taken forever with so many courses. Enjoy your book birthday.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great day for Rhys Bowen fans!
ReplyDeleteThe research for this must have made you hungry. Or not. Some of those "recipes" sound a little sketchy, not to mention overly fiddly. And here I thought all those cake-creating shows were over the top. It's true: there is nothing new under the sun.
Happy Book Birthday, Rhys! I can't wait to read ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS. And those recipes! I've seen similar -I have a copy of the White House Cookbook from, I think, 1890-something, and it's also filled with 57-step recipes that deliver at least 500 calories per bite. How much protein did they think people needed back then?
ReplyDeleteI suppose houses were cold and drafty and most people walked a lot (Queen Victoria didn't. in the end she couldn't walk at all) . You burn more calories. But this was just the very rich. Ordinary people probably had what I grew up eating after the war when meat was still rationed: lots of suet pudding with a sliver of meat in it.
DeleteRhys, happy book birthday! I look forward to reading Above the Bay of the Angels!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of fans from distant places, I remember when I went to your event at Book Passage that some of your fans came from the South Bay and farther south (central California).
Diana
I had a fan come from New Orleans to Houston and two fans from Portland OR to Scottsdale! Amazing
DeleteRhys's new book is something to celebrate. But maybe not like the Victorians did? Fun reading though.
ReplyDeleteWaiting to download my Kindle version now. Happy Day!
ReplyDeleteHappy Book Birthday! I'm looking forward to reading this.
ReplyDeleteRhys, I loved the food in this book! Not to eat--ugh--but it was fascinating to read about. So interesting to actually read those recipes. Did they eat the bones of the larks and blackbirds in the pies?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on another great success!
No, the recipe called for 40 boned larks! Imagine. Poor little birds!
DeleteBook arrived in the mail today. Can't wait to get lost in it tonight!
ReplyDelete